KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — The ski racing rivalry between Austria and the United States has been less than subtle at times in the last eight years.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, after Hermann Maier won a ninth medal for the Austrians — the Americans had one medal at the time — he crowed at the postrace news conference: “Who’s the best in the world? Anyone can say he’s the best.”

The comment was a stinging jab at the United States ski team’s motto, “Best in the world.”

Four years later, at the Vancouver Olympics, the Americans proudly celebrated their slogan with eight medals, double the number won by the usually powerful Austrians.

But Saturday, when Anna Fenninger of Austria won the women’s super-G and her teammate Nicole Hosp won the bronze medal to give Austria four Olympic medals at the halfway point of the 2014 Olympic Alpine competition, the pendulum appeared to be swinging sharply toward the Austrians again.

The United States ski team, which a week ago appeared to have gold medal contenders — if not favorites — in three of the first five events, has instead been a prominent bust so far.

The only medal performance has been Julia Mancuso’s surprise bronze in the women’s super combined six days ago. The Americans have not seriously threatened for a medal since then, with the best finish a sixth in the men’s super combined.

Saturday, Mancuso was eighth.

But the United States motto is not “top 10 in the world.”

In 2010, at the halfway point of the Alpine competition at the Vancouver Games, the Americans had won seven medals: two gold, three silver and two bronze.

“I think there’s definitely some disappointment,” Mancuso said Saturday. Referring to her teammate Bode Miller, she added: “For sure, in the downhill I wanted to have a better race and Bode, for sure, wanted to do better. But it’s hard — there’s only three spots that you can get a medal and there’s tons of skiers out here who can step it up and have their best races.

“My last two races, I had conservative runs and wasn’t anywhere near having a medal. But it takes everything coming together. It has to be that magical day.”

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Fenninger celebrated after winning the gold medal in the women’s super-G. Austria now has four medals in the Alpine events at the Sochi Games.CreditJosh Haner/The New York Times

The United States Alpine director Patrick Riml said: “We probably expected a little more, to be honest. But the Games aren’t over yet and we’re halfway there. We still have some strong performers coming next week.”

The United States team is partly feeling the effects of the absence of the injured Lindsey Vonn, who won gold and bronze medals four years ago. But skiers who were meant to replace Vonn, like Ted Ligety and Miller, have unexpectedly faltered. Ligety squandered a chance in the super combined by skiing tentatively — the opposite of his usual approach — and Miller, who was spectacular in training before the Olympics, has made a major blunder in every race.

While Ligety and Miller have a chance to win medals in the men’s super-G on Sunday, hopes could quickly and desperately turn to the youngest Alpine racer, 18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin, whose first event is the giant slalom on Tuesday.

Shiffrin’s best event, the slalom, is Friday. Ligety will be the favorite in the men’s giant slalom on Wednesday.

The pressure will be on to keep the United States team within sight of the soaring Austrians, who lead the Sochi Olympics Alpine medal table.

“I don’t know why we as a country are doing so well,” said Fenninger, who finally had the breakout victory expected of her since she became a three-time junior world champion. “It is our national sport. It is important we show that we are good at it. The country is much happier when we do.”

Fenninger’s winning time of 1 minute 25.52 seconds was achieved by mastering a deceptively tactical, twisting course that included a devilish final jump. The less accomplished skiers were tossing their skis sideways to make many gates, and 18 racers did not finish.

Fenninger, 24, the 2011 super combined world champion, was crisp through the choppy snow of the top section, smooth through the flat, cruising middle section, and navigated the final jump with her skis pointing in the proper direction so she could be early on the pivotal left-footed turn over the knoll that vexed so many of her competitors.

Among those who did not handle the final jump well was the silver medalist, Maria Höfl-Riesch of Germany. Höfl-Riesch could have won the race but she soared too far off the jump, leaving her out of position.

“I am fortunate to have finished,” Höfl-Riesch said. “But I am happy even for a silver.”

It is Höfl-Riesch’s fourth Olympic medal. She had won three golds. The record for Alpine Olympic medals by a woman is six by Janica Kostelic.

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Anna Fenninger, center, took home the gold in the super-G on Saturday, while Maria Höfl-Riesch of Germany, the super combined winner, left, won the silver, and Nicole Hosp of Austria won the bronze.CreditJosh Haner/The New York Times

Hosp, a versatile all-around skier who missed the Vancouver Olympics because of a knee injury, now has two medals at the Sochi Games and three Olympic medals over all.

Mancuso was hoping to tie Miller for most Olympic medals won by an American, but she was unnerved by the number of skiers falling or not completing the course as she watched alongside the start gate. It led to a cautious run and a time that was 1.52 seconds behind Fenninger.

“Super-G takes confidence, and seeing so many people go down and have bad runs, it took me back a notch in my confidence,” Mancuso said. “I left the gate wanting to ski well and not necessarily wanting to win. In my mind I wanted to win but after I got down to the bottom of the run, it was definitely conservative.”

Still, Mancuso insisted that the United States team’s morale was still high.

“Everyone on our team is really good at looking at the big picture,” she said. “Everyone is good at putting things in perspective.”

Looking ahead at the remaining five Alpine events of the 2014 Olympics, Mancuso said, “I think there’s a chance in every event left to have a medal.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page SP6 of the New York edition with the headline: As Austrians Prevail, American Skiers Falter. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe